The House of Hades
by readingqueen811
Summary: The Greeks and Romans are at war with each other, something Reyna fears she cannot stop. Jason's mixed up emotions make it hard for him to be the current leader of the remaining seven. Hazel's stopped her flashbacks, but is this a good thing? Will Frank ever learn to control his fear of fire long enough to work with Leo? Beta'd by PhantomWhispers
1. Jason I

Jason I

Jason felt miserable. He almost wanted to jump into that evil pit with his own girlfriend. He was now left to be the leader of the most important quest in the century, without the help of two essential and powerful demigods, who had decided to fall down a huge and dark pit. Another downside of this was that he felt like everyone was whispering about him behind his back. He felt like his new friends, and even Leo and Piper, were siding against him, blaming him for Percy and Annabeth's fall. Jason sat in his room on the Argo II with his head in his hands, mulling over the events when he heard a voice at the door.

"Knock, knock?" Piper stood at the door of his room, her hip leaning against the doorframe. She was wearing a white v-neck shirt and a pink denim jacket over a brown hoodie and a worn jean skirt with some white cowboy boots. Her dark brown hair was worn in two pigtails that were tied off around her chin and a brown eagle feather was braided into her left pigtail. Her expression looked normal, but her eyes showed much more. Jason knew her eyes were full of sadness.

Piper had been like this for the past few hours. She wasn't that good at hiding her emotions from him, he'd learned that in the months they'd been dating. Jason supposed that it was another downside to being a daughter of Aphrodite, but he secretly liked it. So many girls that had been at Camp Jupiter with him; the girls he'd grown up with, had serious poker faces, but with Piper, it was like she was always open with him. Sometimes Jason felt guilty that he couldn't be so open with her, but he'd been brought up that way; to never show too much emotion and to follow the rules.

_Oh no! The curfew rule!_ Jason immediately panicked; Coach Hedge would probably ground both of them if he found them together since it was almost curfew. "Jason..." Piper chided. "I know you blame yourself for what happened, but you've got to understand that it wasn't you."

"How can you be sure?" Jason asked, he felt his fists clenching. He wasn't sure if Piper had started to use charmspeak on him, but he knew that he was beyond the works of charmspeak now. "I could've cut those strands of spider web on Annabeth's leg: I actually thought about doing it. I could've ran over there and helped pull them up! I could've done so much more!" He buried his fingers into his blonde, straight hair, entangling it.

"Jason..." Piper came over to his bed where he was sitting and sat down next to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Yes you could've done that, but wouldn't you rather have an alive Percy and Annabeth in an area that Nico thinks they can get out of with the key to restoring the peace between the two camps onboard the ship, or an alive Percy and Annabeth with us, but the camps war unstoppable? You were working for the greater good of everyone. You don't need to feel guilty."

"But..." Jason started to protest, but Piper gave him a look and he became silent.

"Jason... either you stop blaming yourself," she said, "or I'm going to charmspeak you so I don't have to listen to you put yourself down anymore."

Jason smiled at this, for he had thought Piper had already attempted to use charmspeak on him. For a second, his worries stopped, but then he looked back up into Piper's eyes which were currently a brilliant shade of a dull turquoise. They didn't match the smile that was on her face. She was probably just trying to hide the grief she was feeling for Percy and Annabeth, but Jason was worried by what they seemed to say:

_What secrets are you keeping from me?_ Her eyes asked, while she slipped her fingers into his. _Why are you acting so distant when you're around me?_

"Goodnight Jason." Piper said as she kissed him sweetly and let go of his hand before walking to her own room, her eyes' questions still lingering in his mind.

Jason's dreams that night were filled with darkness, darkness and the whispers of Gaea, wind too, like he was falling... _Oh gods,_ he thought, _this is where they are._ He didn't see Percy and Annabeth, but he could see the faint green glow of Percy's uncapped sword below him.

_There's a reason that they're falling and not you._ Gaea's voice whispered in his mind. _Your emotions for Piper are too conflicted and erratic for me to count on that you'd save her._ Part of Jason wanted to protest, but another part was agreeing with Gaea, as if she'd just given him a huge dose of charmspeak that was directed at his heart, and not his mind.

"That's not true!" Jason screamed into the darkness, hoping that Gaea wouldn't hear him, but she did.

_Really?_ she asked, _How about I show you where they are and what they're doing? What would you do in this situation Jason? Would you accept your fate? Would you keep fighting? Would it bring you closer to Piper? Or further away?_

Jason's dream zoomed in to where the glow of Percy's sword was coming from. Percy and Annabeth lay in the darkness, the air zooming past them. Anaklusmos was uncapped in Percy's left hand, and his right hand was in Annabeth's. "Together," Annabeth was saying in her sleep, "As long as we're together."

Jason felt his stomach clench with a mixture of jealousy, pity, terror, and sadness. Would he have jumped into Tartarus with Piper? Or Reyna? Would he have had the loyalty to even defend them if they had ever descended into Tarturus?

_Gods, where did that thought come from?_ He thought to himself. He hadn't thought about Reyna since they left North America, but she was out there, the spear was probably already thrown, planning a probably lethal attack on the peaceful Camp-Half Blood. Perhaps they were already laying seige upon the camp, and she still was leading alone just like she'd been for the past nine months...

Jason wanted to slap himself. How could he have forgotten the pressures of being praetor so soon? It must've been a side effect of Hera's amnesia scheme. Either that, or he was just really, really dense. Seeing Annabeth like this, her hair tangled and messy, covered with spider webs, blood dripping down her forehead. Her expression was the same that Reyna had worn before she and him had charged together in battle with Krios. It had been so long ago, but Jason still remembered that expression, he thought he'd recognized it anywhere...

Another punch of guilt hit Jason in the stomach. Reyna had also been wearing that expression in Charleston. She was serious about this war. She was serious about revenge against the people who'd blown up her home... again.

Annabeth started talking in her sleep again, saying something about hot chocolate and guinea pigs, but Jason's dreams whisked him awake before she could finish the sentence.

Jason awoke in a cold sweat. The clock next to his bed read 7:42. Light filtered through his window as he sat up. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair before heading out the door of his room to the lounge.

"Okay," Hazel said to everyone once all the demigods had settled into the lounge. "We have to figure out what we're going to do with this giant statue of Minerva... I mean Athena... until we can get back to the United States and stop the attack against the Greek camp... I mean Camp Half Blood."

"Hazel's right." Nico said. "Demigods have already started being killed on both sides, although not on a huge scale. I wonder what's holding them up..."

"I know what it is..." Piper put in, "At least, I think I do." She pulled on her braid in confusion. "It's something about volleyball? And Rachel? I'm not really sure about what's going on, but Rachel's convinced the Romans to do something that is really, really, really weird."

"Moving on from that..." Leo said, "I think that it should be me who takes the statue back to Camp Half Blood. It's my fault that Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus..."

Everyone except for Hazel burst out in protest, especially Jason, because despite what Piper said, he still blamed himself for it. "Hazel understands." Leo pointed out. "We...we were talking with Nemesis and she gave me a fortune cookie and said she'd help me, but for a sacrifice... and I think they were the sacrifice... on the other hand, now Frank, Hazel and I are alive, and I have the Archimedes spheres to upgrade the Argo II. Anyway, the point is I'm the perfect candidate. No one here will miss me. I'm the seventh wheel right? And I think Reyna might understand me. She's Puerto Rican, right Jason?"

Jason stared in shock at Leo, realizing that that question was directed at him. "Yeah.. . she's Puerto Rican," he said, shooting a nervous glance at Piper, "but Leo we'll miss you! We can't afford to lose any more people. Anyway, right now you're no more of an outcast than Nico..."

Nico stood up from the shadowed chair where he'd been sitting, pretty much unnoticed by the rest of them. He glared at Jason before standing up himself. "No." Nico protested, sounding a lot older than thirteen. "I'm the only one who really can go."

Everyone stared at Nico. He didn't look like much to Jason, just a scrawny little kid with curly black hair and skin that looked like it was supposed to be dark, but had never seen the sunlight, so it wasn't. His brown jacket hung loose around him and he looked like he'd melt into shadows any second, like he wasn't really tied to the earth.

Jason didn't know how Nico could possibly solve a war between two camps; sure, Nico had been coming to Camp Jupiter for the past year, but he'd never really done anything but observe, and he wasn't sure how either camps would react to him now that they found out he'd been a traitor.

"Look, kid." Jason started to say, "I have no idea how you could possibly..."

Nico cut him off, "Okay, you guys have a quest.. a reason to be here. Me, I'm nothing more than a stowaway. I'm not one of the seven of the prophecy, no one needs me. And if the camps both turn against me, at least they won't be killing each other. Besides Leo, you're really the last person who should walk into a mob of angry Romans since you were the one who blew up New Rome in the first place. Then again, I need to lead you to the Doors of Death, and Annabeth's the only one who can really unlock the power of the statue, so we're going to have to wait until we get to Greece."

This seemed like a good idea to Jason, but he couldn't figure out why the plan made him so nervous. "Where exactly are we going Nico?" He asked.

Nico smiled in a devilish grin, that set a very creepy fire into his eyes, in which Jason swore he saw images of tortured souls. "Why the Necromanteion in Epirus, Greece. We're going to visit the Oracle of Death."


	2. Jason II

**Author's Note: ****Hey, it's me Readingqueen811 (or Reyna-impersonator) as you tumblr people might know me. Sorry this wasn't updated sooner, but I had finals and the holidays and well… you know how that is. So, anyway, yeah, here is the second chapter of the House of Hades (readinqueen811's version)**

Stunned silence filled the room, leaving Jason with a cold feeling inside of his stomach. "Oracle of Death; what was that supposed to mean?" He'd met the current Oracle of Delphi, Rachel Dare, at Camp Half Blood, before his quest with Piper and Leo, but never had anyone mentioned the term "Oracle of Death" to Jason.

Nico disappeared back into the shadows of the chair he'd been sitting in "refusing" to speak anymore as Jason thought, but everyone was still looking at him expectantly- except for Hazel, who walked towards Leo.

"Leo, can you set a course for Epirus, Greece?" She asked a glazed-eyed Leo, who was playing with some green and red copper wires as he stared intensely at Nico.

"Leo!" Piper waved her hand in front of his face and shook him by the shoulders. Leo showed no response; Piper continued to shake him by his shoulders, but she used charmspeak."Set the course for Epirus, Greece!"

"Wh..what?' Leo stuttered and kept furiously blinking his eyes in surprise. Leo took a shaky breath and raised a hand, calling out to Festus. "Got it; Epirus, Greece. Hear that Festus?"

The dragon masthead gave a snort from above, telling them that he'd heard Leo. Tendrils of smoke drifted into the air as the dragon screeched some more; Leo gave a reply- huh, hmm, ah- with each screeching noise.

Questions buzzed in Jason's mind, he wanted to know why they were going there, and what that had to do with the doors of death, but neither of the children of the death god was giving any information about what lay there. Jason figured they'd have time to discuss it later.

Jason went up to the deck to mull over his thoughts. He was up there for no more than fifteen minutes when he saw another boat coming towards them. It was a much smaller boat than the Argo II- kind of like the ferries that used to come around San Francisco that you could hear at night from Camp Jupiter. The boat was white, with a bright gold lettering on the side that screamed out violently into Jason's sight; Jason couldn't read in the morning sun. A young woman stood at the front of the boat, as if she was re-enacting that scene from _Titanic_, but there wasn't anyone holding her, and she was far closer to the water. The young woman's dark hair flowed behind her in the breeze, and although a floppy sunhat covered her facial features, Jason easily thought that she was a beautiful woman.

The other boat honked to the Argo, and a voice came over the ferry's loudspeakers. "Attention…_what does that say?_ Attention Argo II, our captain would like to speak with your captain. We are looking for some recruits for our group. If you refuse, we will assume you are a hostile ship and contact the Sicilian coast guard. Thank you."

The rest of the demigods, except for Coach Hedge, who was watching cage fighting on the TV, ran up to the deck as they heard the message. If the ship belonged to mortals, they would have definitely not used the name "Argo II". Leo anchored the ship, but stayed close to the controls, clutching his Wii nun chucks and other devices tightly. Jason figured this was because he assumed this was a trap and that Leo was far from excited to bring more friends into death's realm, but they really had no choice but to stop.

The demigods looked at Jason, looking for some reassurance. He gave a short, confident smile and turned to face the ferry.

As the ferry approached, a long ramp stretched out from the approaching boat and connected the two ships; the young woman walked up the ramp to meet up with the demigods. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled underneath her floppy hat, and she had a woven a black wrap worn like a skirt over her bikini. Her familiar appearance made Jason very suspicious, if not more; she looked like trouble. Judging by Piper's distasteful expression, Jason figured she was thinking the same thing, but maybe she was closer to the answer.

"Hello." The woman said, her Mediterranean accent ringing in Jason's ears like bells. "I presume you are the captain."

"Actually," Leo said, turning from the controls, "I am the captain here…." He stopped once he saw the woman. Her hat had fallen back as she turned to Leo, so Jason couldn't exactly see her face, but he figured Leo was having his 'instant-girl-attraction' problem again. Leo combed his hair back with his fingers. "Supreme Commander of the Argo II at your service." Leo said in a voice that Jason guessed was supposed to sound manly, but ended up sounding kind of like Cal the Boread they'd met in Quebec. Then Leo bowed to the woman.

"Charmed." The woman said distastefully, turning to the girls- Piper and Hazel. "I'm here to talk to you girls about becoming trainees in my business. We have branches all over the world, so you can work from… I presume you are American…?"

Piper and Hazel nodded slowly, confused expressions on their faces. "Yeah… America." Piper said slowly as her eyes narrowed.

"The two branches closest to there are in New York, San Francisco, and a small island in the Carribean. Do either of you live close to those?"

"Sort of." Hazel replied, suddenly shy under the woman's gaze.

"Excellent. Of course, you'd both need small makeovers. The usual; braids, more makeup, the white dress…" The woman trailed off, sounding wistful.

"Um," Piper started, "I'm sorry, we never got your name."

"My name?" The woman asked. "Well, I go by many things- I feel no need to go through _those-_, but you young children can call me C.C."

That name got Jason's mind moving. He remembered hearing about this woman at Camp Jupiter when he was about fourteen. Something told him she was dangerous, but also that she wouldn't harm Piper or Hazel. The conversation he'd had about her brought back to him the smell of coffee and someone crying, someone who didn't usually cry. He had no idea who that might've been, but he kept his guard up just the same.

"What business would they be getting into?" Frank asked, being ever-protective of Hazel.

"The spa business!" C.C. exclaimed, as if it were obvious. "Wow, you guys are really dense for dem… demure teenagers." Jason was almost sure she was about to say demigods. "I'd thought your friends would have told you about me.

"Do you mean Percy and Annabeth?" Frank asked, "because they're not here right now." He said choking back a sob, but holding his stone expression.

"Hmmm," C.C. paused, thinking, "well, I do remember an Annabeth visiting my spa about three years ago, but I was talking about someone else. I believe her name started with an R… her older sister Hylla and was quite the wonderful manager of the Caribbean location…"

Jason felt like he'd just swallowed an ice cube. _That_ was who told him the story. _Reyna _had, the day she came staggering across the Tiber River crying and about to pass out from exhaustion. The day Jason had been the only one on sentry duty brave enough to approach the startled girl who somehow had a spear that she threatened to pierce through anyone who came near her. C.C.'s spa! No, that didn't sound right….

"Oh." Jason said quietly, the ice cube slowly sinking into his stomach. Everyone turned to look at him. Frank and Hazel obviously knew it was Reyna and Hylla, but they didn't know how C.C. connected to the sisters.

"You're Circe." Jason said quietly, half-hoping she wouldn't hear him, but Circe had ears of a rabbit, and she turned to him, her hat falling off in the process, revealing a cruel and beautiful face.

"My, my, my." Circe sneered, "took you long enough to figure that out." She turned back to the girls. "So, Piper what do you say. You'd already be a sales associate with that _lovely_ voice of yours, but I'm afraid you'd have to leave this _lovely_ son of Zeus behind."

"Why would I do that?" Piper asked, clutching Jason's hand in hers, "I'm not leaving Jason, or any of the rest of my friends. In fact, none of us is leaving this boat for _anyone_."

"Don't you realize that you're always standing in their shadows dears?" Circe purred, slowly moving towards Hazel like a lion stalking her prey. "Female demigods _never_ get any of the credit. How many famous ones can you name?"

"Marie Antionette, Cleopatra, Atalanta.." Hazel listed quietly, but Circe continued her rant.

"I knew the _first_ Jason you know," Circe boldly retorted. "My niece Medea came with him to my island, begging me to remove the curse that had been placed on them. Medea would do _anything_ to be with Jason. Even kill her own brother, which was how she got the curse in the first place. Would you do that Piper?" Medea asked. Jason could feel Piper shifting nervously under the pressure, so he squeezed her hand, letting her know that she shouldn't choose him over her siblings. Medea continued.

"Medea even poisoned the girl that Jason _really_ loved, a lovely princess, just so she could be with him. Jason only promised to marry her for the sake of his quest. I'm sure someone else knows how that feels, being led on by a guy just so a team can work together, just so they can kill a monster, just so they can share a job…" Circe paused and turned back to Hazel, but Jason couldn't hear her over his string of thoughts.

At first, Jason had thought she was talking about Piper, but now it seemed like she was talking about someone she knew better. Was she possibly talking about _Reyna_? Jason didn't think he'd ever led her on. They were friends and that was it. Someone like her would never have feelings for someone like him_. Then again… there had been a time, when they'd been fighting Krios…_ Jason pushed those thoughts from his mind, he had to stay focused, he could think about this later. _You've been saying that for almost a year_, Jason's conscious reminded him, _when are you going to re-live that day?_

"My dear Piper," Circe said turning back to Piper and showing her a small pout, "you must've heard by now that sons of Zeus, Jupiter, whatever, are very, very bad news. Join me; you'll never have to fall prey to your mother's game again."

"You know," Piper replied. "The Hunters of Artemis offered me something similar last winter, and I wasn't even dating Jason yet. That kind of goes against my genetics. So if you don't mind…"

"Perhaps this might help then. The _real_ reason the Romans are taking measures against your _voice_ is that their _beautiful_ leader Reyna trained with me when she was about fourteen. She learned charmspeak in two months. She knows how to detect it. Jason, you of all people should know how far Reyna will go to protect her home. By not joining me, the girls put themselves at risk, risk of heartbreak, and of terror. Just a small memo, dear."

"No." Piper said drawing her dagger.

The witch summoned green fire that danced along her arms, and she started to condense it into a fireball, when she was knocked on the head by a giant club.

Coach Hedge stood over Circe's unconscious body, smiling like he'd just won the whole Giant War altogether. "And that is how you do sorcery, Hedge style." Coach Hedge said, about to run over to Circe's ferry to go hit all of her handmaidens with the club, but Leo stopped him, a devilish grin on his face.

"Hold up Coach," He said, still brandishing a horribly wicked grin, "I have a better idea."

Circe's ferry was given a warning by Leo for them to abandon ship if they didn't want to get shot by ballistae. Most of the handmaidens escaped. Circe's ferry sank under the waves in a beautiful display of fireworks. Leo had fun drawing mustaches and stuff on Circe's face before dumping her in one of the lifeboats.

"You think she'll have amnesia when she wakes up because of Coach's club?" Jason asked Hazel jokingly.

"Hopefully," Hazel replied dryly while looking downwards at the almost sunken ship.

Suddenly, Nico appeared from the doorway, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Where were you when all this happened?" Jason demanded of the younger boy.

"Shadow traveling." Nico yawned. "Talked to a friend who may be able to help Percy and Annabeth. Was tired. Took a nap."

"You should've been helping us!" Jason protested.

"I _was _helping!" Nico objected.

"Look," Jason muttered. "I don't trust you. I don't like how you knew about both camps and didn't tell us. I don't like how you keep disappearing. If you want to be on this ship, you better start acting like part of the team."

"Of _course_ I should help as much as you do! It's not like I have been _shoved_ into a jar and relieved of air for_ seven _days! Things are hard enough as it is. I don't want to make an enemy out of you." Nico replied, shrugging his shoulders, but a strong expression took over his pale features. "I never really stay in one place for long. You can guarantee that as soon as we meet up with Percy and Annabeth (if- no- when they show up at the doors of death) I'll be out of there as quickly as a person says after giving his best tidings. It pains me to be restrained, if you try to keep me locked up on this ship without doing anything, you can guarantee I'll be gone before you can look back, but we need to work together, so I'll try my best. Think you can do that?"

"Deal." Jason agreed, and they shook on it.


	3. Hazel III

**Author's Note: I'm so glad you guys liked C.C. so much! I knew it was a pretty big risk putting her in there, but I felt like I had to. How long did it take you guys to figure her out? Anyway, this chapter is coming quickly because I love you all so much, once again, thank you so much Phantomwhispers (aka. Full-minata) for being the best beta I could have! Friendly Reminder: Hazel is 13, that means she will think and act like a 13 year old in every situation, not like a 16 year old. Oh and one more thing: I do NOT ship Jeyna, contrary to the belief of most of you. I do, however, believe that Jason is lying though about having never had feelings for Reyna, but this story will be Jasper in the end.**

Hazel III

It wasn't long until Hazel really started to regret her decision to leave Nico alone, even if it was only for a little bit. Sure, her brother was able to walk around freely (and without any outbursts) now, but she'd never forget the way his eyes were like broken glass. She'd heard him screaming from his dreams that very night; it made her worry constantly. Nico was staying in Percy's cabin for the time being, at least until (or if) they got Percy and Annabeth back.

That night, Nico's screams had interrupted Hazel's own terrifying dream. She didn't know whether or not if she was thankful for his alerting shrieks.

It was in that dream when she was tied up against a chair in an empty white room.

A booming voice echoed in the room. Hazel wasn't sure whose voice it was, because it didn't sound familiar, but the voice clearly said _beware the sound of laughter_. Hazel tried to respond- though she was too terrified to respond with anything other than a shriek- but she found that she had a gag placed inside her mouth.

She began wriggling and writhing, but the ropes holding her to the chair wouldn't move at all to allow her an exit, and nor did the chair itself.

After a while (or at least it seemed like that in the dream), Leo came into the room from a door that had appeared just as quickly as it disappeared in front of Hazel's eyes. When the dream Leo saw her, he started laughing. But the laughter wasn't Leo's normal happy laugh, but instead a cruel, mocking one.

Hazel heard Leo's mocking taunts "that she couldn't get out" much longer than she felt she could have heard them . "It's just a chair Hazel," he said. "Not like it's a monster or anything. All demigods can most definitely defeat a stupid chair. Or at least any _useful_ demigod could."

"Leo?" Hazel asked, trying to ignore the criticisms that were stinging her skin with every word. She bit her lip. "What happened to you?"

"My dear, I am not Leo." Leo said, his face falling off of his head and leaving an empty piece of skin there. Hazel looked down at Leo's face that was still laughing at her, but slowly solidifying into a… mask?

Hazel's dream gag fell off as she heard a scream so loud that it forced her to jolt upright in bed. Hazel listened to Nico scream for no longer than it took to slide out of bed and then quickly- thinking the boat was being attacked- run into Percy's room.

Nico lay on the floor, curled up in the fetal position, his eyes closed. He was screaming indiscernible words, but Hazel could tell he was scared out of his mind. His face was already noticeably paler than his usual complexion.

Hazel put her arm on Nico's shoulder to comfort him. "Nico…" she whispered, "Are you okay?" Nico's shattered-glass eyes shot open, his hand shot to his sword, which was lying on the floor next to him. When he saw it was just Hazel, he started crying silently.

She hugged her brother as he cried into her curly hair. "Hazel." He whimpered. "The monsters down there… you can't even begin to imagine. It's insane. There's only one place where the monsters can't find you… and I couldn't get there soon enough."

"It's okay Nico." She replied. "You're out of there now."

"No!" Nico almost yelled. "It's not okay. They're still down there. Sure, they have better chances than me, but don't you think they'll be just as broken as me when they come out? We can't just say that everything's _okay_, not when you guys don't know how horrible it is."

Nico pulled back from the hug, silent tears streaking his ashen cheeks. "I should tell you something." He whispered. "I _borrowed_ dad's sword. I have it with me right now. It's hidden under the pillow."

Hazel drew back the blue sheets on Percy's bed to reveal the horrible black sword underneath, inside of it lay two keys. She gasped, not daring to touch the keys, because she knew what they would do to her if she touched them. "Why Nico?" She asked her brother, "You have a perfectly good sword."

"You heard the prophecy." He replied. "You guys _need_ the twin keys of death to lock the doors of death. I only wish…" Nico blinked back tears. "We have both of the keys on this side, so we'll just have to figure out how to get one to the other side."

Hazel knew what Nico was thinking, but she didn't dare voice their thoughts out loud. They both sat there, staring at the sword until the Mediterranean sun started creeping through the room. That was how Nico stayed as Hazel went back to her room, and she was sure that he'd stay like that for the rest of the day until someone moved him.

That morning, on her way to breakfast, Hazel rushed to the stables take a look at the Athena Parthenos. The pale face of the goddess seemed to glare down at her as if to say, "You are not worthy _Roman_." Hazel pulled her brown jacket closer to her skin as a small breeze from the bay doors turned cold under the goddess's icy gaze.

Hazel almost wanted to ask the statue what she'd done wrong, but she knew subconsciously that Athena had been against the Romans since the Trojan War back in Ancient Greek times; there was nothing she could do about her ancestry.

As she walked up to breakfast, she ran into Leo, who was carrying some supplies to the engine room, powdered doughnut on his face. "Hey Hazel." He said, but his mouth was full so it sounded more like "Mfh Azml."

"Hello." Hazel replied, her thoughts still on the Athena Parthenos.

Leo swallowed and then asked "Do you want to help me install the Archimedes spheres later today? It could be fun… and I'm great for a laugh.." Leo smiled his salesman smile, but Hazel wasn't buying it.

"No thanks, ask Piper." She replied. "I'd rather not since the last time you worked on something, you caught fire." Her hand subconsciously went to the pocket of her jacket where Frank's candy-bar sized piece of firewood was located today.

Leo got the message. "Okay…" he said, but then he smiled again "do you want to hang out later then?"

"Not really. I'm a little confused about how you were with Circe. Maybe times have changed, but I'm pretty sure fifteen year old guys don't hit on million year old witches. Are you always like that with girls? Sammy…" His name faltered in her mouth. "Sammy wasn't like that." Hazel said, a burst of anger rippling through her as she ran up to breakfast.

When she got up there, she found Frank and Jason looking at a map of the Messinian straight that they'd have to pass through to get to Greece. From what she heard, it was the fastest way to Greece without going near Africa. Apparently, Jason had a bad feeling about Africa.

"But we'll have to go near Sicily," Jason was warning, "and then we enter the Ionian Sea, which is the second most dangerous part of the Mediterranean. This was part of the _original_ Sea of Monsters, where Odysseus and Jason and everyone traveled, so we'll have to be super careful…."

Jason trailed off in thought as Hazel sat down next to Frank, accidentally knocking his glass of milk all over the table. Hazel rushed to get a napkin and they both cleaned it up, avoiding each other's eyes. Hazel tried to hide her embarrassment at making such a scene. Jason didn't even look up from the map.

After a couple of uncomfortably awkward minutes, Piper entered the room. Hazel wasn't sure what she really thought about Piper, she had been totally supportive and a great friend earlier on the quest, not to mention she was a great fighter, but Hazel had _seen_ Reyna and Jason grow closer before he disappeared, and she didn't see how Piper was any better than Reyna. **(A/N: **_**Hazel **_**is the one who ships Jeyna, **_**not me**_**.)**

Both of them were extremely beautiful, and very smart. Piper was funnier though, and smiled more often, which made her whole face glow so you couldn't help but look at her. As Hazel got lost in those thoughts, Piper came up and touched her shoulder playfully. "What'cha thinking about?" Piper asked, smiling.

"Nothing." Hazel replied automatically, she'd never been good with having girls as friends. In New Orleans, she'd only had Sammy, and then at Camp Jupiter it was Frank. Sure, Gwen had been nice, and Reyna had been, well, kind of like a disapproving sports coach who gave you a lot of tough love. Piper's new friendship was somewhat hard to adjust to, especially with her conflicted thoughts on Piper.

Suddenly, a loud crunching sound came from the left side of the dining room.

"Leo!" Piper called, making Hazel wince because of her conversation with him earlier. "What just happened?"

Leo ran into the room, his face covered in black soot. "I don't know?" He replied, exasperated. "I asked Festus, and he said that the rocks we just ran into kind of came close to us super fast, like godly fast, and they grew bigger and sharper until they hit us... and... well..." Leo seemed to be struggling for the right words to describe the situation.

Hazel ran onboard along with everyone else. Coach Hedge was already up there, dishing insults right back at the rocks. Sticking out of the ocean, about two miles from the coast of Sicily, was an island of jet black rocks that were insulting everything they saw, which was literally only the Argo II and it's crew.

"You're a useless satyr." A taunting voice, came out of a crack in one of the rocks.

"Is that a unicorn horn on your face?" Another rock asked.

"Okay, that's it," Coach Hedge yelled, threatening to throw his baseball bat into any rock he could find, unfortunately, there was an island full of them.

"Why is this happening?" Frank asked.

"Look," Nico said, and he pointed to a maroon figure that was passed out a couple meters from the shore and who's mouth was saying all the insults.

"Must be a god if he has that type of magic." Jason observed. He raised his hand slightly above his sword, ready for battle.

"We'd better go talk to him." Piper agreed. "I'll go with Hazel and Leo to see what's going on, you guys get some wax from the supply room and shove it in your ears, we'll be back soon."

"Umm," Leo started to protest, glancing at Hazel nervously, but Piper pulled on his ear and dragged him to the gangplank so they could get aboard the island.

The walk to the passed out man was about as awkward as it could possibly be because of Leo and Hazel's fight earlier that morning, but Piper kept it lively by yelling at the rocks to "shut up" (a phrase that had to be explained to Hazel) using charmspeak. When they finally got to the guy, Piper stopped dead in her tracks.

"Now normally I'm not one to criticize fashion," she said, "that's my mom's job, but that is a _really_ hideous outfit."

The man was wearing a maroon pinstriped three-piece suit, the kind that Hazel knew her father wore. Across the stomach, was a weird flap of fabric with buttons, which made her assume it opened. The man wore a highlighter yellow cravat and a black top hat on bright red hair. Now, it wasn't like "ginger" or "redhead" red hair, it was seriously stop-sign, fire-engine, chili-pepper red that clashed hideously with the maroon and the yellow. His black and white old-fashioned cane was topped with a jester's crown and was swirling in the air as if conducting the insults that were all around them.

Leo bent down and shook the guy's shoulders, and he sat upright, smiling at them in a way that seemed totally insincere. "Welcome to my island demigods." The man said. "I am Momus, god of laughter... among other things."

Hazel could've sworn she heard him mumble under his breath, "Criticism, mockery, ridicule, blah, blah, blah."

"Hello... Momus." Piper greeted smiling her usual reserved-for-monsters award-winning beauty-pageant smile that made Leo start fidgeting uncomfortably. "We were just wondering why you crashed our ship, surely a god like you wouldn't be interested in _little old us_."

Piper's act was perfect, flawless, for a moment, Momus actually looked confused, but then he started laughing. "Another blameless and flawless child Aphrodite," Momus yelled at the sky, "I'm still wondering how you do it."

"What do you mean: blameless?" Leo asked the god.

"I suppose ignorant, imperfect _spawn of Hephaestus_ like you wouldn't understand." Momus sighed, as if he was scraping mud from the bottom of his obsidian black boots.

Hazel was mad at Leo, but not enough to let him get insulted like that. "Now what do you mean by that?" She asked Momus, _big_ mistake.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Momus said "I don't talk to _dirt._"

Hazel glared at the god, ready to make the entire island of obsidian explode in his face out of anger for such rudeness, but Piper shot her a look that said, "I'll handle this."

"Momus!" Piper's smile appeared again, her hands opening wide in a gesture of peace. "Tell us more about... my mother."

"Oh yes," Momus smiled, "Venus, that flawless angel... where do I begin? Well, I suppose it was the day I was brought in to criticize, I mean _critique _some of Hephaestus' work….

**Okay, that's it, tell me what you think. Momus, one of the only gods who people actually still worship (it's kind of creepy.) Anyway, look up Momus if you just can't wait for the story, because I won't be all explicit about it. Once again: Hazel is 13, so don't criticize me for her thoughts toward the guys not being that **_**exciting**_**.**


End file.
